Dr Daniel Micallef presented the science behind the H2020 VARCITIES EU Project at the Conference Regenerative Buildings – The Future of Construction is Now held last month. The Conference, hosted by the Faculty for the Built Environment at the University of Malta focussed on rethinking sustainability towards a regenerative economy.
During his presentation at the Conference Dr Micallef highlight the fact that the primary aim of VARCITIES, a Horizon2020 project, is to implement real, visionary solutions to improve the health and wellbeing of citizens in diverse geographical and social contexts. This will add value to the implementations by establishing sustainable models and by providing a return on investment that goes beyond the economic ambit.
Dr Micallef stated, "In Malta, the locality of Gzira is being considered as a case study wherein the issue of air-quality is of primary importance. Another quality of life concern is the levels of noise in the area. A number of different sensor types will be used throughout the area in order to measure traffic flow, wind, air-quality and noise. With such measurements, the problems that have already been identified will be more concretely quantified."
"A number of stakeholder engagement workshops are being organised in order to ensure that citizens are fully aware of the extent of the issues. A citizen science campaign is also planned where citizens will be directly involved in air quality measurements in Rue D’Argens and the vicinity. This data will prove invaluable not only for the characterization of air quality of this heavily affected area in Gzira but will also help citizens appreciate the science behind improving health and wellbeing. The campaign is planned to involve around 70 citizens with sensors installed all around the area", said Dr Micallef.
The information gathered will be relayed to a local server which will enable this data to be available in real-time on an online platform that is being developed in VARCITIES. This real-time information will be part of a wider database of real-time measurements gathered from seven other cities around Europe including Leuven (Belgium), Dundalk (Ireland), Castelfranco (Italy), Novo Mesto (Slovenia), Skelleftea (Sweden), Bergen (Norway) and Chania (Greece).
"A number of stakeholder engagement workshops are being organised in order to ensure that citizens are fully aware of the extent of the issues. A citizen science campaign is also planned where citizens will be directly involved in air quality measurements in Rue D’Argens and the vicinity. This data will prove invaluable not only for the characterization of air quality of this heavily affected area in Gzira but will also help citizens appreciate the science behind improving health and wellbeing. The campaign is planned to involve around 70 citizens with sensors installed all around the area", said Dr Micallef.
The information gathered will be relayed to a local server which will enable this data to be available in real-time on an online platform that is being developed in VARCITIES. This real-time information will be part of a wider database of real-time measurements gathered from seven other cities around Europe including Leuven (Belgium), Dundalk (Ireland), Castelfranco (Italy), Novo Mesto (Slovenia), Skelleftea (Sweden), Bergen (Norway) and Chania (Greece).
Dr Micallef explained that as part of VARCITIES, the pilot project for the seven cities is committed to use Nature Based Solutions (NBS) to alleviate the various challenges that each city faces. There are a number of limitations with regard to how NBSs can be adopted in the locality particularly in view of the fact that the urban area is highly densified and property is for the most part privately owned.
The VARCITIES project, therefore, aims at encouraging citizens to use green in their own homes, roofs and use visible green interventions on balconies. In addition, a communal garden is planned to be implemented in part of the Gzira Primary School premises as well as the refurbishment of the Council of Europe gardens. These solutions help to alleviate the stressors on the citizen’s health and well-being. The NBS implementations in VARCITIES will be monitored and evaluated in order to provide a replication tool-kit which can be adopted in cities of the future.
The VARCITIES project, therefore, aims at encouraging citizens to use green in their own homes, roofs and use visible green interventions on balconies. In addition, a communal garden is planned to be implemented in part of the Gzira Primary School premises as well as the refurbishment of the Council of Europe gardens. These solutions help to alleviate the stressors on the citizen’s health and well-being. The NBS implementations in VARCITIES will be monitored and evaluated in order to provide a replication tool-kit which can be adopted in cities of the future.